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Friday, March 11, 2016

Finding Thor ~ Anniversary Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway

Happy one year book birth anniversary to YA Romantic Suspense Finding Thor, by Kai Strand! Scroll down for my book review and a GIVEAWAY!

International intrigue hits small-town America.

Tragedy has left Cara Cassidy broken and the only thing
keeping her from giving in completely is her guilt. Until Nik Rock.

Nik stirs up feelings in degrees she has never experienced,
and causes her to do things that most assuredly give him the wrong impression –
like kiss him before their first date. Somehow, he breaks down the walls
around her emotions until she has no choice but to forgive herself and feel
again.

But a mysterious, troubled past follows Nik, and Cara may
prove to be his weakest link.

When a royal princess shows up looking for Nik, and an
international gang arrives looking for missing jewels, Cara lands in mortal
danger. Will she be able to save herself? What will happen to her newly
repaired psyche if she loses Nik?

The veil dropped over Nik’s expression so fast, it
told her exactly what she didn’t want to know. Nik had indeed seen her mom.
Cara turned away from him again intending to trudge back into the classroom.

“By the crown, will you stop already?” Nik begged.

The exasperation in his tone and the odd choice of
words piqued her curiosity. Cocking her head, she asked, “By the crown?”

The frustration melted away and Nik pursed his lips,
which almost distracted Cara enough to forget the thread of conversation, but
she tore her eyes away and asked, “Is that what they say in Seattle?”

Nik’s eyes lit with appreciation.
“Aren’t you clever?”

“Am I?”

He nodded. His appreciative appraisal
and half smile wreaked havoc with her supposed cleverness.

“Nik?” she breathed.

“Yes?” He tilted toward her giving
her the impression he hung on her every word. His eyes were glued to her lips,
which she realized were parted and ever so slightly panting.

She gulped. “Can we perhaps do this
after school?”

When he raised his gaze to meet hers
she almost liquefied under the heat of it. “Can I trust you?”

“Trust me to do what?” Cara asked.
She was losing the ability to think.

“Show up.” He slid closer and she
held her breath hoping he would take her in his arms.

“Show up where?” she asked.

A full-blown grin curved across his
face and she thrilled with the knowledge she’d put it there. Then she realized
she couldn’t remember how.

“Actually, I was going to ask you
that,” Nik said. His eyes roved her face.

“Wait. What?” Cara’s voice was so
breathy she wasn’t sure if she spoke or gasped.

“Where should we meet? After school.”

She itched to rise up on tiptoe and
kiss that stellar grin off his mouth.

She nodded slowly. Was he a drug? Or
maybe the male version of a siren. Did they have those?

He tipped further forward and she
caught her breath. Then he sighed.

“See you next period.”

Her mouth fell open as he walked
away. He hadn’t even touched her and she was burning with need.

At the end of the hall, he glanced
over his shoulder and grinned when he saw her still gaping after him. When he
walked out of view she let out the breath she’d been holding. It stuttered and
shook, but was relieved to escape her burning lungs. How long had she been
holding her breath?

By the crown, Nik Rock was dangerous!

Finding
Thor is available in print or electronic format from the following:

Readers,
get ready for a wild ride because Finding
Thor has a lot going on in it. Main character, Cara, is dealing with some
major grief and guilt issues, managing an emotionally absent mother, struggling
with newfound sexual awareness and desires, and falling for a smoking hot guy
who may or may not be her boyfriend. As if all those things aren’t enough to
keep a girl busy, she’s also fighting to stay alive as kidnappers take her
hostage. Twice.

Author Kai
Strand takes readers from one crisis to another with a wide cast of characters.
At the core, there is Cara and her best friend Kelly, where readers will feel the
most heart-warming moments of friendship and loyalty and the glorious security
of having someone in your life who takes you at your very best and your very
worst. In Cara, Strand captures the
indecisiveness and ever-changing levels of confidence, as well as the complete
confusion of budding sexuality, that define the teenage years.

The plot is
unique and the pacing is good, but readers need to be prepared to suspend their
disbelief – a lot – especially in the scenes involving the kidnappers and
various injuries and tortures that occur.The responses to these situations didn’t ring true, nor did the secrecy
this group of teens was able to keep.The
dialogue between the characters was well-balanced and seemed authentic in most
situations.The writing was solid, but
the book needs additional editing to clean up some basic errors in word use and
punctuation.

Young adults
will enjoy the action, romance, and mystery in Finding Thor, but sensitive readers should be aware that there are
some fairly graphic scenes involving torture. The language is very mild, with
only an occasional damn or hell thrown in the mix.

Thank
you to the author for providing me an eBook in exchange for my honest review –
the only kind I give.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:When her children
were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family
around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys
were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died. The end.” Now an
award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to
provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for
young adult and middle grade readers Kai entertains children of all ages, and
their adults. Learn more about Kai and her books:

Swag alert! Looking for your Thor? Look no further, Kai’s
got you covered. Enter to win a custom tote bag, for all of those books you like
to carry with you, and a Thor baseball cap. Easy entry for those in a hurry or
many other ways to earn more entries for contest junkies. FT swag pack can only
be shipped in the United States. If first winner is International, an Amazon
gift card will be substituted and another winner will be chosen.